How to Choose the Best Tour Guide System for Your Needs

By Plant Tours Communications

When expecting a visit by potential clients or upper management, you cannot afford for you voice to not be heard. When preparing for an upcoming tour, you must choose the best tour guide system for effective communication.

Characteristics of the Right Touring Equipment

Every system we sell has unique features. However, you can expect all equipment to have similar basic functions necessary for speaking and listening during a plant tour.

For instance, everyone in your group should hear the guide through the headsets or earpieces provided to them. What is more, they need to be able to hear speech above machine hums, background conversations and other interferences. This requires that all speakers and microphones function the way they should even in noisy environments.

When a system works the way it should, sound will transmit clearly from the speaker to the listener. Distortion or feedback also will not occur, and speech will not sound garbled. In addition, sound equipment that works correctly will allow speech to travel without delays.

Unless your group plans to stay in one room, you also will want a system you can easily take with you wherever you walk. Ideally, using communication devices requiring as few wires as possible will provide you the most convenience. At the same time, you will want a wireless system that works well no matter where you use it. The good news is, you can rent or own wireless equipment without compromising sound quality that could occur when using less expensive communication products.

Factors that Could Affect System Performance

When shopping for the best audio tour guide system for your group, you must consider all factors. For instance, the room size could make a difference in how the sound travels from the microphones. Equipment communication range and proximity of visitors to the guide also could make a difference.

Other factors that contribute to tour guide system performance include as follows.

Quality of headsets, wires or microphones – When made of durable materials, each part more than likely will function better than components made of cheaper materials. You want systems that will not easily fray, break or malfunction.

How well equipment is charged – During testing, you might notice delays, broken sound or static. If so, check your battery levels. Sound quality often improves after allowing each electrical component to charge long enough.

Age of the installed system – Even systems made from quality materials suffer wear and tear from average or frequent use. At some point, you will need to replace equipment or request newer models of the same system if renting instead of buying. Otherwise, it could stop working during an important meeting or tour.

Channel availability – Having at least 15 channels or more will increase chance that you will have no interference when multiple tour groups are present at your place of business. It will also eliminate the possibility of cross talk in between tour guides and visitors from different groups.

Stable connectivity – Making sure you have plugged in all equipment as securely as possible when charging devices will ensure uninterrupted performance while conducting tours. Stable connections also drastically reduce chance of electrical line burnout.

Correct setup – Making sure all components of a tour guide system are set up correctly also improves equipment performance. In addition, it will decrease chance of equipment malfunction that could occur if you missed a step when setting up your devices.

System Compatibility Also Matters

Whether you decide to rent or buy your touring guide system, you also need to make compatibility a priority. Having a professional test compatibility of new systems with current systems will give you a perfect equipment match. It will also provide you with the peace of mind that your equipment will work on tour days. The need for your equipment to work well together increases even more when you have more than one tour a day scheduled, especially if you book more than one group at a time.

Ready to learn more about which of our solutions is the best tour guide system for your needs. Give us a call today!